Top Stories

Special Report

×

Metered Access

Crain's Detroit Business is a metered site. Print and digital subscribers have unlimited access to stories, but registered users are limited to eight stories every 30 days. After viewing three metered stories, you'll be asked to register or log in. After eight more stories in 30 days, you'll be asked to subscribe.

Most Influential Women 1997-2007

In 2007, Crain's recognized women making a difference in their professions and industries. Some women were also honored on our 1997 and 2002 lists.

Barbara Allushuski

Global partner, Mercer (2007)

Vernice Anthony

President and CEO, Greater Detroit Area Health Council (2007)

Trudy Archer

36th District Court judge, first lady of Detroit while husband Dennis Archer was mayor. (1997)Retired from the bench in 2006. (2007)

Lizabeth Ardisana

CEO, ASG Renaissance

Ardisana, 56, is principal owner of the technical and communication services firm based in Dearborn, with offices in California, Washington, South Carolina and Ontario. The company has branched out to provide environmental program management and minority supply chain development.

Her company was the first minority-owned service supplier to receive Ford Motor Co.’s Q1 award and it was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Michigan Entrepreneur of the Year.

Active in many civic organizations, Ardisana also serves on two corporate boards and was the first woman elected to chair the Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a post she still holds. (2007)

Anne Asensio

Donna Bacon

Vice president and general counsel, JPE Inc., Ann Arbor. (1997)Retired to North Carolina in 2000. Is a member of the Artists League of the Sandhills, where she has won awards for her paintings. (2007)

Nancy Bacon

Senior vice president, Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (1997)Continues as a senior vice president with ECD with responsibility for government relations, contracts, financing and business development, among other responsibilities. (2007)

Linda Bade

Penny Bailer

Executive director, Michigan Metro Girl Scout Council, Detroit Board of Education member. (1997)Since 2001, executive director of City Year Detroit, an organization that recruits young adults under the age of 25 to serve communities full-time for 10 months. (2007)

Jennifer Baird

President and CEO, Accuri Cytometers Inc.

Baird and researcher Collin Rich co-founded Accuri Cytometers Inc., which makes medical devices for cell analysis that is based on technology patented by the University of Michigan, in 2004.

Baird has proven adept at fundraising. The company raised $5 million in angel funding, an extremely high amount for a Michigan-based company, then in April got $5 million in its first round of venture-capital funding. Last September, the state of Michigan announced it had provided $2 million in debt-based financing to Accuri.

Baird said the secret to her fundraising success was spending nine months on market research and revising the business plan before approaching investors.

Accuri is in beta testing for its first cytometer — it is much smaller and cheaper than traditional cytometers, which are used in drug discovery and other life-science research — and hopes to have it on the market in 2008. “If I was any more specific, my investors would ring my neck,” said Baird, 40. (2007)

Brenda Ball

Vice president and treasurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. (1997)Ball filed a lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court against Blue Cross in 2004 that claimed she was fired in 2003 when she asked not to report to an executive who displayed sexual and racial bias. The case was sent to binding arbitration in March 2006. (2007)

Leslie Banas

Partner, Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn L.L.P. (2002)

Katy Barclay

Vice president, global human resources, General Motors Corp. (2002)

Terry Barclay

President and CEO, Inforum/Inforum Center for Leadership

When Barclay took the reins of the former Women’s Economic Club in August 2001, the venerable organization was still dedicated to its mission of helping women succeed in their careers, but its membership was declining and its finances were precarious.

In the succeeding six years, Barclay, 50, has led the organization through a change of name and geographic expansions to Lansing and West Michigan. The organization also has created a sister nonprofit, the Inforum Center for Leadership, dedicated to education and research.

The organization, which has a budget of $1.8 million, has seen its membership balloon from fewer than 800 members to more than 2,000 and its corporate sponsorships increase from 10 to more than 70.

Before joining Inforum, Barclay was the founding president of Operation Able of Michigan and also held executive positions at Oakland University and Hospice of Michigan. (2007)

Vicki Barnett

Mayor, Farmington Hills

Barnett, 53, was elected to the Farmington Hills City Council in 1995 and elected mayor in 2003. A financial planner specializing in retirement planning in her “day job,” she pushed for Farmington Hills to adopt a citywide economic master plan for “future redevelopment and sustainability,” which she says is the first of its kind in the country. The plan encourages mixed-use developments and increased density on already-busy commercial corridors to create a tax base to reduce the burden on home owners. As president of the Michigan Municipal League, Barnett is championing plans to create an economic union of Great Lakes states in a kind of “North Coast” to bolster the regional economy. (2007)

Gladys Barsamian

Retired Probate Court judge known for her work in juvenile law. (1997)

Sarah Bates

CEO, New Technology Steel L.L.C.

Bates bought 51 percent of the assets of the bankrupt Integrated Steel Co. in 2000 and promptly embarked on a tough relaunching of the steel processing business that involved creating new customer relationships and letting go half the company’s 40 employees.

“We didn’t start from the ground up,” she said in a Crain’s interview in 2001. “We started under the ground. Now we’re starting to see the grass.”

Bates, 52, invested in new equipment and redirected the company’s focus to providing exemplary customer service. The effort paid off. The company has grown from $9 million to $100 million in revenue and 157 employees.

It is now one of the largest minority-owned, flat-roll service center networks in the U.S., processing nearly 1 million tons of steel annually to customers in automotive, construction and the pipe and tube industries, among others.

Bates entrée into the steel business was with Heidtman Steel Products, where she worked her way up from a receptionist to general manager of the company’s new Butler, Ind., plant. (2007)

Lillian Bauder

President, Masco Charitable Trust; vice president of corporate affairs, Masco Corp. Spent 13 years as president and CEO of Cranbrook Educational Community, expanding endowment from $31 million to more than $157 million. (1997)Retired. Remains a director of DTE Energy Co. and Comerica Inc. (2007)

Kate Beebe

Kay Benesh

Benesh, 48, serves as the “CEO” for more than 1,300 professionals in an area that comprises 12 offices in seven states and generates more than $350 million in revenue.

Her position, which she has held since 2004, was precipitated by a restructuring within Deloitte & Touche USA to create several large, regional practices linked by common strategy and culture rather than many autonomous offices. (2007)

Nancy Berg

Stephanie Bergeron

President & CEO, Walsh College

The 25 members of the Walsh College Board of Trustees searched for the college’s sixth president and CEO when a vacancy opened in summer 2006. They selected their own interim president and board vice chairwoman, Stephanie Bergeron.

“The right combination of talent was already sitting in the chair,” said William Roney III, board chairman and executive vice president of Raymond James & Associates in Birmingham.

“She not only brought her outstanding track record as a businesswoman, the concentration of her career was in accounting and finance, hallmarks of WalshCollege’s success over the years.”

Bergeron oversees a $25 million budget, and interacts with faculty and administration, trustees, alumni, students and the public. Walsh College, with campuses in Troy, Novi and at Macomb Community College in Warren, has enjoyed a 40 percent growth in enrollment since 2000. This month, the school launches a doctoral program. In December, it dedicates a 36,000-square- foot expansion.

“Walsh touches so many people in Southeast Michigan. You meet graduates everywhere you go,” said Bergeron, noting recruiters from 879 companies came to campus during the 2006-2007 academic year. “Even in this tough marketplace, there are opportunities here in Detroit.”

A talent for math helped advance Bergeron’s career, which has won local and global accolades. She grew up on the east side of Detroit near Guardian Angels Church and attended Dominican High School where the nuns helped hone her skills.

If students groan through lessons in number crunching, Bergeron could tell them numbers are the epicenter of business and industry. Over 25 years in automotive positions, she prepared corporate financial statements and competitive analysis for Goodyear Tire & Rubber, participated in strategic efforts to successfully avert Tracinda Corp.’s hostile takeover of Chrysler L.L.C., and maintained financial control and accounting for 28 manufacturing and assembly plants for General Motors Corp.

Bergeron was one of Crain’s Most Influential Women in 1997 when she was assistant treasurer for Chrysler.

“Stephanie exceeded our expectations,” recalls Sam Gibara, retired Goodyear CEO. “She joined us as assistant treasurer and rose to the No. 2 person in the finance division (senior vice president), working through the refinancing of the company. She did a great job working with the banks and leading a team of professionals. People reporting to her globally had nothing but respect for her leadership.”

Listening is the talent Bergeron values most. “I was given opportunities at General Motors far beyond most people my age. I looked to my supervisors to relate the best way to do a job and how to help get it done. I’ve invested 30 years into listening and asking other people how I could assist their efforts.” (2007)

Maxine Berman

Jan Bertsch

Vice president and chief information officer, Chrysler L.L.C.

Bertsch, 50, was named to her current position in August and is responsible for systems and telecommunications operations worldwide. Previously, she held the same position with Chrysler Group and Mercedes-Benz in North America.

Bertsch has been with Chrysler since 2001 and previously spent 22 years with Ford Motor Co. and Visteon Corp., beginning her career as a financial analyst. (2007)

Linda Blair

Executive vice president and chief business officer, ITC Holdings Corp.

Linda Blair has made an imprint on the core of the nation’s largest independent transmission company.

From the business’ start as a spin-off from the Detroit Edison Co. to now-national expansion, Blair has worked on financial, human resources and other strategic issues integral to the success of the rapidly growing company.

In 2005, she helped prepare the company to go public in an initial stock offering that raised more than $400 million, and in 2006, Blair integrated employees, benefit plans, policies and corporate culture when Southeast Michigan-based ITC acquired an electricity transmission system covering the remainder of Lower Michigan. She’s worked to gain regulatory approvals for ITC’s next expansion, the $750 million acquisition of a system serving parts of Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota and Illinois.

Blair, 37, manages each of ITC’s regulated operating companies and the necessary business support functions. ITC has grown from 38 employees and $125 million in revenue in 2003 to 250 employees and an expected $420 million in revenue in 2007. (2007)

Penny Blumenstein

Chairman, executive committee and founding trustee, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. (2002)Continues to be active in the federation and many other organizations. Serves of the board of The Jewish Fund, the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and Henry Ford Health System, among others. (2007)

Mary Jo Braun

Beth Brockmann

Beth Brockmann, 42, joined GE Commercial Finance about three years ago after working in commercial lending for Comerica Inc. for 17 years.

At GE Commercial Finance, Brockmann has raised her company’s profile in automotive lending by aggressively going after lending deals while many other financial institutions are backing away from the troubled industry.

During the first six months of 2007, Brockmann oversaw about 20 loans or equity investments worth more than $1.5 billion in the automotive industry. And, by the end of the year, Brockmann expects that year GE Commercial Finance and its related GE Capital divisions will invest more than $2 billion in the automotive industry. (2007)

Marcie Brogan

Managing partner, Brogan & Partners Convergence Marketing in Detroit. (2002)Still running the agency, now in Birmingham, but with the title of CEO. (2007)

Shari Burgess

Shari Burgess, 49, learned soon after she joined Ernst & YoungL.L.P. in 1980 as an accountant that she was more interested in financial transactions than pure accounting.

“I just think that if you are going to work hard, and you want to do your best, being at the end of a decision isn’t exciting,” Burgess said.

And so Burgess attended the University of Michigan while raising two children and obtained an MBA in 1992. From there, she joined Lear Corp.’s finance team, where she has risen to vice president and treasurer.

Over the past 15 years, the automotive seating and electronics supplier has grown from $1.5 billion in annual sales to $18 billion. Burgess has played a pivotal role.

Between 1992 and 1998, she had primary responsibility for putting a value on 16 acquisitions, as well as many aspects of the financial, business and treasury due diligence.

In 2002, Lear promoted Burgess to vice president and treasurer. In 2005, when Lear decided to explore the possibility of selling its $3 billion interiors division, Burgess was responsible for identifying and evaluating the company’s strategic options.

One of her most difficult challenges came in 2006 after Toledo-based Dana Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

“We had sort of an unprecedented 12-month period where (the automotive industry) had several large investment-grade companies file for bankruptcy, and surprise the market,” Burgess said. “And so the market said, ‘Wow. Who could be next?’ ”

Lear was among the companies that analysts and the media thought could be.

And while Lear felt it was on solid financial ground, the company completed a $2.7 billion debt refinancing by spring because, Burgess said, “Perception can become reality.”

Burgess used the bank relationships she had developed over 10 years to recapitalize the company and extend payment terms to 2010.

Although shareholders rejected the offer, Burgess said the experience of working with Icahn was a tremendous learning experience.

“They challenge you in every respect … they are relentless,” Burgess said. “It was intellectually challenging.”

So what is the secret to her success?

“I let information drive the decision,” Burgess said. “I listen to all perspectives and I make sure that I seek out those perspectives. I represent the company both inside and the outside. … So you have to listen.”

Sometimes that method takes longer, but Burgess it is what has enabled her to excel.

“I am a woman in a man’s world, no doubt. And my style is not the same. I am not as loud. And so you work around that,” Burgess said. “Sometimes when you are not as loud, you do not get noticed as fast … but over time your performance will prevail.” (2007)

Beverly Burns

Connie Calloway

Superintendent, Detroit Public Schools

Connie Calloway, 56, was superintendent of the 5,700-student Normandy School District near St. Louis, Mo., before she was hired March 7 as superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools, with about 106,000 students and an general purpose budget of nearly $900 million.

She came to the Normandy district in July 2004, after serving as the academy director for the Edison Schools Charter System in Dayton, Ohio.

Before that, she was superintendent of the Trotwood-Madison District outside of Dayton, which bought out her contract and released her in 2003. She also previously taught in Ghana and West Germany. (2007)

Mary Campbell

Partner and founder, EDF Ventures

When Campbell, 62, founded EDF Ventures in 1987, there wasn’t much in the way of venture capital — particularly home-grown — in Michigan.

In the 20 years since its founding, EDF has invested in more than 50 companies and has current funds under management of more than $100 million. The fund specializes in early stage health care and information-technology companies.

In 1997, Campbell led the firm’s most successful transaction, Pixelworks, a leader of system-on-a-chip integrated circuits for the advanced display market which went public in 2000 (NASDAQ: PXLW). She has been the lead investor for six of the firm’s investments in health care companies and five of its investments in IT companies.

In 2006, she was appointed president of the Michigan Venture Capital Association, which comprises venture-capital, private-equity and professional-services firms with an interest in increasing VC investment in Michigan.

In March, the state’s 21st Century Investment Fund and the state’s Venture Michigan Fund each committed up to $7.5 million to EDF’s third fund. EDF hasn’t disclosed its target amount for the new fund, but it is expected to be at least $75 million. (2007)

Sharon Cannarsa

Cannarsa says her proudest current achievement is keeping her company, a tier-one supplier of precision machining and assembly, healthy during the struggles of the Detroit 3.

Cannarsa, 59, got her start in business in the early 1970s, when she worked for Canco Manufacturing in Detroit, which made oil couplings for the drilling industry. She eventually became president, CEO and then owner.

She started Systrand with her husband in southwest Detroit in 1982. He remains involved in the business, as do their two sons.

In 2001, the company created Systrand Presta, a joint venture with a division of ThyssenKrupp, a full-service supplier of assembled camshafts. In 2002, Systrand acquired a South Korean operation. The two have revenue of $35 million and $10 million, respectively, with total company revenue achieving $80 million. (2007)

Carolyn Cassin

President and CEO, Hospice of Michigan. (1997)Left Hospice of Michigan in 1998 to join VistaCare. Currently is CEO, Continuum Hospice Care/Jacob Perlow Hospice, New York City. (2007)

Seema Chaturvedi

Doretha Christoph

CFO and vice president, Intermet Corp. (1997)Left Intermet for family reasons in August 2002. (2007)

Denise Christy

President, Humana Michigan

Christy, 47, has been in health care sales and management since 1983. Prior to joining Humana Michigan in 2003, she had held top marketing jobs for SelectCare in Troy and Priority Health in Grand Rapids, where she built the marketing plan to support growth from startup to $200 million in revenue.

She leads the Michigan operations for Humana, a publicly traded health benefits company based in Louisville, Ky., that has been a leader in creating tools for consumers to mange their health care programs.

She has been tapped as a guest lecturer on health care and marketing topics at professional conferences and universities. (2007)

Susan Cischke

Noreen Clark

Dean, School of Public Health, University of Michigan. (1997)Served as dean until 2005. Now is the Myron E. Wegman Distinguished University Professor, director of the Center for Managing Chronic Disease, professor of health behavior and health education and professor of pediatrics at UM. (2007)

Rhonda Cohen

Mary Sue Coleman

Since her appointment as president of the University of Michigan in 2002, Mary Sue Coleman helped to launch a $2.5 billion capital campaign — and then surpass that goal.

She has played an active role in economic development in partnership with other Ann Arbor area business leaders and organizations.

Coleman forged an agreement with Google Inc. for the digitization of UM’s 7 million-volume library, which will enable the public to search the library online. That was among the things that reportedly enticed Google to bring its AdWords division and 1,000 jobs to Ann Arbor.

Elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1997, Coleman co-chaired a policy study of the institute, examining the consequences of uninsurance and has become a nationally recognized expert on the issue. (2007)

Melissa Cragg

Benita Crawford

President and CEO, Mercy Hospital; group vice president of integrated urban health, Henry Ford Health System. (1997)Left Henry Ford and took a job in Texas. Current status unknown. (2007)

Michelle Crumm

Co-founder and chief business officer, Adaptive Materials Inc.

Crumm has been the business mind behind Adaptive Materials Inc., an alternative-energy research and development firm based in Ann Arbor.

Crumm, 36, co-founded the company in 2000 with her husband, President Aaron Crumm, and has secured much of the in-state funding that has helped the company grow.

The company received a $6.3 million loan last year from Michigan’s 21st Century Jobs Fund that will help Adaptive Materials commercialize its fuel cells.

And last month, the state awarded Adaptive Materials a tax credit of $760,000 over seven years to help support an investment of $2.8 million by the company to relocate elsewhere in Ann Arbor.

Adaptive Materials had 2006 revenue of $4.1 million and employs 54. (2007)

Lin Cummins

Senior vice president, communications, ArvinMeritor Inc. (2002)

Julia Darlow

Member, Dickinson Wright P.L.L.C. (1997)Left Dickinson in October 2004 rather than resign from the board of Intermet Corp. because of a law firm client conflict. Joined Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett L.L.P. as of counsel in the Novi office in May 2005. Was elected to the University of Michigan board of regents effective Jan. 1, 2007, and resigned from Varnum to comply with university bylaws. Is not currently practicing law. (2007)

Dottie Deremo

CEO, Hospice of Michigan

Deremo, 61, has led Hospice of Michigan, a nonprofit with $62 million in revenue, since 1998. Between 2004 and 2006, she reorganized the nonprofit to create a hub-and-spoke model for the nonprofit that consolidated business offices from 15 to five, while expanding services. Hospice also created an electronic medical record system and equipped field staff with laptops and PDAs.

But her success lies as much as preaching the gospel of end-of-life planning and an advocate for reshaping health-care spending priorities.

A member of the state’s Certificate of Need Commission, Deremo also serves on health-care industry boards, including the Michigan State Hospital Finance Authority and Oakwood Health System.

Before joining Hospice of Michigan, she was chief nursing officer for Henry Ford Hospital and was in charge of patient care services at Hutzel Hospital. (2007)

Alice Diaz

Andrea Dickson

Executive vice president, Wayne State University

Dickson, 51, joined WSU last year from Butzel Long, to be top aide and counsel to President Irvin Reid.

Among her areas of focus is the university’s public radio station WDET-FM 101.9, which in recent years has been working through format and fundraising challenges. She also has led an environmental initiative, looking at green and sustainable opportunities on campus.

At Butzel Long, Dickson co-chaired the Labor and Employment Department and had range of public- and private-sector clients. She also has extensive experience working with colleges and universities on organizational and policy issues.

She is a former chair of the State Bar of Michigan Labor and Employment Law Council and is a frequent speaker on continuing legal education issues. She is on the State Bar of Michigan Judicial Qualifications Committee and was elected a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. (2007)

Debbie Dingell

Exec. Director, community relations, General Motors Corp. (2007)

Geralda Dodd

Chairwoman, Thomas Madison Inc., Detroit. (1997)Company’s units filed for bankruptcy in 2000 and were sold or liquidated. (2007)

Jacqueline Dout

Gail Duncan

President, Jerome-Duncan Ford, Sterling Heights. (2002)The dealership filed for Chapter 11 in June 2005 after defaulting on a payment to Ford Credit, a situation complicated by litigation with her father, Richard Duncan, over control of the dealership. Dealership was sold from Chapter 11 in 2006 to the Suburban Collection. (2007)

C. DunCombe

President and CEO, Detroit Economic Growth Corp. (1997)Semi-retired. Divides time between Detroit and Florida. (2007)

Peggy Dzierzawski

CEO, Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants

Dzierzawski, 54, has led the professional association for accountants for 10 years, with a membership increase of 18 percent and a 95 percent retention rate. She has helped create partnerships with nonprofits that involve CPAs as volunteers at Junior Achievement, Accounting Aid Society and Hospice of Michigan.

But her greatest success may be leveraging the association from a monitor of public policy to a participant in helping to shape regulatory and legislative initiatives affecting the profession. (2007)

Susan Edwards

Executive vice president and COO, St. John Health System. (2002)Left in May 2002 to become president of the Arizona region of Banner Health System in Phoenix, where she remains. (2007)

Sue Eisenberg

Eisenberg & Bogas P.C., Bloomfield Hills. (2002)Same position. Current high-profile client is former Detroit Pistons player and current New York Knicks president and coach Isiah Thomas, whom she was defending in a sexual harassment suit. A jury ruled against Thomas in the civil lawsuit on Oct. 2. (2007)

Irma Elder

CEO, Elder Automotive Group, Troy. (1997)Remains CEO, but has passed many management duties to her two sons. Tony is president of the Michigan division and vice president of Florida operations, while Robert is president of Florida and vice president in Michigan. (2007)

Haifa Fakhouri

Haifa Fakhouri came to the U.S. from her native Jordan in 1968, graduating from Wayne State University to become a sociologist, educator and administrator … and community organizer.

Fakhouri’s passion to see newly arrived immigrants gain economic self-sufficiency and community stability led her and others to found the Arab American and Chaldean Council.

During the past 28 years, the council has grown from a single office in downtown Detroit with a $20,000 budget to 39 offices in the tri-county area with a multimillion-dollar operating budget, offering employment and training programs.

A $37 million development project is helping revitalize the dilapidated Seven Mile/John R/Woodward area into a thriving and vibrant neighborhood.

Fakhouri, 62, also has been an advisor to the U.S. Agency for International Development and to the United Nations Development Population on the role and status of women and population policies in the Middle East.

She has been inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame and International Institute Hall of Fame. (2007)

Farmer joined General Motors Corp. in 1977 as a salaried employee in training with the Buick Motor Division in Flint and steadily moved up the ranks. Her current focus is on maintaining a strong relationship with the United Auto Workers and executing GM’s manufacturing goals. (2007)

Maureen Fay

President, University of Detroit Mercy. (1997)Retired in June 2004. On the board of Kelly Services. (2007)

Ann Federici

J. Felt

Attorney and member, Dykema Gossett, P.L.L.C. (1997)Retired at the end of 2006, but keeps an office at Dykema to provide transition work with clients. Serves on the study board of the International Joint Commission, a U.S.-Canadian treaty organization that is studying the reasons for lower water levels in the Great Lakes and whether there can be remediation. Also is the U.S. co-chair of the Public Information Advisory Group to the commission. Serves on the board of the Michigan Cancer Pain Initiative and is part of the State Bar of Michigan Equal Access Initiative. (2007)

Julie Fershtman

Of counsel, Zausmer, Kaufman, August, Caldwell & Tayler P.C.

Fershtman is moving up the ranks of the state bar association, even as she builds an unusual practice in equine law.

Fershtman, 46, was elected treasurer of the 38,000-member State Bar of Michigan in July, which puts her on track to become president in 2011. She is a past chair of the association’s young lawyers’ section.

A former state quarter horse champion, Fershtman early in her career built a practice representing insurance claims against stables, trainers and owners. She has authored two books and more than 180 articles on the topic.

Her practice also includes insurance defense, insurance coverage, business litigation, and sporting and recreational liability. (2007)

Lisa Fildes

Luana Floccuzio

Director, W.B. Doner & Co.

Floccuzio, 46, has been involved with high-level advertising, communications and marketing for nearly 25 years in Detroit, both for automakers and as part of agencies.

After starting her career as an automotive industry engineer in the early 1980s, she went to grad school and shifted to the marketing side. By the end of the decade, she was in charge of Saturn’s rollout as the company’s advertising manager.

Since joining W.B. Doner in 2004, Floccuzio has been responsible for all of the agency’s integrated marketing and media activity with an emphasis on new media and nontraditional marketing. Doner is the country’s largest independent ad agency and its clients include Mazda, Electrolux and Coca-Cola.

Prior to joining Doner, she was managing director and COO at a New York communications company, Dan Klores Communications. She was an executive vice president and managing director at Troy-based N.W. Ayer & Partners after coming over from General Motors Corp. She was responsible for seven years for developing GM’s corporate brand strategy as a director on the carmaker’s North American marketing and advertising team.

Floccuzio also has helped orchestrate the ongoing revitalization of the Adcraft Club of Detroit’s annual awards show, now called the D Show, which will be staged in November. (2007)

Linda Forte

Senior vice president, business affairs, Comerica Bank

After stints in municipal services banking, health and education and other industry segments, Forte led Comerica Bank’s internal and external diversity initiatives, which the bank has used as a driver for business growth. Diversity runs through business development, community outreach, internal diversity training and leadership development.

Now a member of Comerica’s management council, Forte, 53, also directs the bank’s corporate giving and community involvement programs.

She is well known as a public face for the bank and has received a number of awards, including Best Corporate Executive by the Black Women’s Contracting Association and Humanitarian Legacy Award from Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. (2007)

Karen Francis

Brand manager, Chevrolet Division, General Motors Corp. (1997)Went to Ford Motor Co. and Limerick Lane Cellars before becoming president and CEO of ad agency Publicis & Hal Riney, a job she resigned in June 2007. She announced plans to remain a consultant to the company. (2007)

Maureen Gallagher

President and CEO, Acordia of Michigan Inc. (1997)Southfield-based partner and workers’ compensation practice leader at insurance company Neace Lukens. (2007)

Julia Galliker

Treasurer, United Technologies Automotive. (1997)

Jan Garfinkle

Managing partner, Arboretum Ventures L.L.C.

Garfinkle and Timothy Petersen founded Arboretum Ventures L.L.C. in 2002 to focus on Midwest-based emerging health care companies. Prior to founding Arboretum, Garfinkle spent seven years as president of Strategic Marketing Consultants, advising companies primarily in the Midwest on how to commercialize life-science technology.

Garfinkle, 49, spent 12 years at two successful startup medical device companies in California, Advanced Cardiovascular Systems Inc. and Devices for Vascular Intervention Inc., both of which were sold to Eli Lilly & Co. and formed the foundation for its spin-off company, Guidant Corp.

She began her career as an engineer with Procter & Gamble, is the past chairman of the Michigan Venture Capital Association and serves on its executive committee.

Arboretum was the lead investor from its first fund of $24 million in Detroit-based Asterandplc, a human tissue bank that went public on the London Stock Exchange in 2006.

Currently, Arboretum is raising a second fund. It has not disclosed a target size but it is believed to be at least $75 million. In January, the state’s 21st Century Investment Fund and Venture Michigan Fund each committed up to $7.5 million in the fund. (2007)

Barbara Gattorn

Senior adviser to the president, Detroit Regional Chamber. (2002)

Zelda Geyer-Silvia

Grace Gilchrist

Vice president and general manager, WXYZ-TV-Channel 7, Southfield. (1997)Same. Longest-serving general manager in station history – 13 years. Has announced she will retire at the end of the year; no replacement has been named. (2007)

Nancy Gioia

Gioia’s long title can be summed up in one short phrase: “hybrid chief,” which means she leads efforts to develop and build Ford’s current and next generation of cars, including today’s Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrids.

It’s a job in a highly visible area, even though mass sales of existing hybrid vehicles and the development of hydrogen internal combustion engines and fuel cell vehicles remains more a hope for the future than a current trend.

Ford sold about 30,000 hybrid vehicles in 2006 and was among the first automakers to launch full hybrids.

Gioia, 47, has held her current post since November 2005 and is considered a rising star. She previously was director of current model vehicle quality for North America and has held several other management and executive positions in Ford product development. She joined Ford in 1982 as a graduate trainee. (2007)

Ruth Glancy

Civic and philanthropic leader, Grosse Pointe Farms. (1997)Stepped down as longtime chair of the Detroit Zoological Society in 2005. (2007)

Louise Goeser

VP, quality, Ford Motor Co. (2007)

Marcia Goffney

Vice president, secretary and general counsel, Yazaki North America Inc.

Goffney, 59, manages the legal operations and services for Yazaki North America Inc., a Japan-based automotive supplier with $3.64 billion in North American sales.

At Yazaki, Goffney created a process for global intellectual-property management and protection and put in place a plan for corporate best practices.

Goffney joined Yazaki in 2001 after working for Midland-based Dow Corning Corp. from 1979 to 2001.

At Yazaki, Goffney has beefed up the company’s internal legal staff and its range of responsibilities. One example was the creation of an intellectual-property management program. The pro- gram is designed both to help Yazaki protect its intellectual property and to provide incentives and recognition to the engineers who design new products.

“As a result of that, we had a record number of patents granted last year,” Goffney said.

Goffney cites the creation of Charting Your Own Course as one of her biggest professional achievements. Now in its 10th year, Charting Your Own Course is a conference designed to address the career development needs of minority partners and associates of corporate law firms. (2007)

Lorraine Golden

President and CEO, Music Technologies Inc., Southfield. (1997)Living in Miami Beach, where Music Technologies opened a second office. The company offers custom in-store music programs for large national retail chains. (2007)

Edie Goldenberg

Dean, College of Literature, Science and the Arts, University of Michigan. (1997)Professor of political science and public policy, UM. (2007)

Deborah Gordon

Founding partner, Law Office of Deborah L. Gordon

Gordon is a leading employment and civil rights attorney handling discrimination and Whistleblowers Protection Act claims.

She has achieved important wins in the state and federal courts. Gordon won a case against the Hazel Park School District for selecting a male boy’s varsity basketball team coach over a more qualified female coach. She won a $3 million verdict for a district court employee who was fired.

In 1986, she litigated a case on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, which put an end to drunken driving road blocks by state police. Gordon was listed in 2006 as one of the Michigan Top Ten in Super Lawyers Magazine.

Gordon, 57, was an assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan and senior trial attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission prior to entering private practice.

She is the daughter of the late television broadcaster Lou Gordon. (2007)

Carol Goss

CEO, Skillman Foundation

Goss, 59, is one of the few African-American CEOs of a private foundation in the country. Under her leadership, Skillman has honed its focus on children in Detroit to work strategically to improve schools and strengthen neighborhoods.

Its Good Schools program identifies and rewards innovative schools that meet its performance criteria, whether they are public, public charter or private schools. It also created a program to focus on six city neighborhoods. (2007)

Verna Green

Senior vice president and general manager, WJLB FM and WMXD FM, 1997; president and CEO, Detroit Black Chamber of Commerce, 2002. (1997)Ran the Detroit Black Chamber before leaving in the wake of a merger in 2003. Now is president of Crouch-Green Consulting in Troy. (2007)

Joy Greenway

Vice president, climate product group, Visteon Corp.

Joy Greenway, 47, is vice president of Visteon Corp.’s climate product group, a division with $3 billion in sales and 13,000 employees.

Greenway was promoted to that position in October 2005 after spending about five years with Visteon running several other divisions.

Under her watch, the division has introduced products such as a heating and air conditioning system that reduces fuel use, while eliminating direct emission of greenhouse gases.

While Greenway has spent her entire career in manufacturing, she was a newcomer to the automotive industry in 2000. Prior to Visteon, Greenway worked at United Technologies Corp. where she was director at a Carrier Corp. unit. She also spent 11 years working for General Electric Co. (2007)

Cindy Grines

Grines, 52, led a five-fold increase in Beaumont’s cardiac catheterizations while forging a reputation as a world-renowned heart doctor.

She served as director of the hospital’s cardiac catheterization laboratories from 1990 until last year. The increase and high marks for quality helped Beaumont achieve a 12th-best heart program ranking from U.S. News and World Report in 2006.

Grines, who oversees a $25 million budget and 100 employees, also is noted for changing the standard of care for heart attack patients after spearheading eight international studies on primary angioplasty. She is the youngest recipient of the American Heart Association Distinguished Achievement Award and is the only female cardiologist to edit a peer review journal, the Journal of Interventional Cardiology. She has published more than 400 articles and books.

Grines is a rarity in her field; fewer than 1 percent of interventional cardiologists are women, according to the American College of Cardiology. (2007)

Carmen Harlan

Susan Harvey

Harvey, 47, joined Ashley Capital L.L.C. in 1996 and is responsible for all aspects of the Detroit operation including property management, leasing, land acquisitions and development.

The company is a large holder of industrial property in Michigan. One notable acquisition is the 2006 purchase of the majority of the Steelcase Inc. campus in Grand Rapids. Ashley is noted for a number of both new construction projects and redevelopments in communities such as Brownstown Township, Warren, Romulus, Livonia, Orion Township and Delta Township.

Prior to joining Ashley Capital, Susan was a vice president at PM Realty Group and worked for Cushman & Wakefield in their Atlanta offices.

Ashley Capital was founded in 1984 and remains privately held. Based in New York with approximately 25 million square feet in its portfolio throughout the eastern half the United States, Ashley Capital is among the premier industrial development firms in the country. The firm specializes in the redevelopment of large manufacturing facilities. (2007)

Joyce Hayes-Giles

Vice president, Detroit Board of Education

Detroit

As vice president and chairperson of the finance committee on the Detroit Board of Education, Joyce-Hayes Giles oversees the district’s $1.2 billion budget.

Hayes-Giles’ passion for education and concerns with the lack of leadership and poor quality of education in Detroit schools spurred her campaign and election to the board in 2005. Her dedication to the board since then earned her the Political Service Award in May from the Fannie Lou Hamer Political Action Committee.

During her nearly 30-year career in the energy industry, Hayes-Giles, 58, led the merger of MichCon Gas Co.’s customer service operations with those at DTE Energy Co. As a result of her efforts, DTE realized $10 million in savings the first year after the merger and $26 million the second year.

Karen Healy

Susan Hendrix

Director, women’s health initiative, Wayne State University and The Detroit Medical Center. (1997)An obstetrician and gynecologist at DMC-Hutzel Women’s Hospital in Detroit and professor at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine. Was named a Crain’s Health Care Hero in 2006 for leading research to learn more about chronic health problems in women. (2007)

Rita Hillman

Pearl Holforty

President and CEO, Liberty BIDCO Investment Corp., Farmington Hills. (1997)No longer funding new companies. Lives in Novi. Sits on the local advisory board of the Sojourner Foundation. (2007)

Kathleen Holycross

President and CEO, Visiting Nurse Association, Oak Park. (1997)

Deborah Hopkins

General auditor, General Motors Corp. (1997)Left GM in 1998 and served brief stints as CFO for Boeing Co.and Lucent Technologies Inc. before becoming a senior adviser to Marakon Associates in 2002. Became head of corporate strategy for Citigroup in 2003 and became a senior adviser to Citigroup’s investment banking clients early 2006. (2007)

Michelle Horowitz

President, partner and COO, Berline Group Inc.

Horowitz, 57, has been instrumental in helping the advertising and marketing agency grow from a four-man office to a $75 million agency that counts Greektown Casino, Wendy’s and Art Van Furniture Inc. among its clients.

She helped established the company along with founder Jim Berline in 1982 after working for other agencies, including what’s now Yaffe Group in Southfield and W.B. Doner & Co., and as a lecturer at Oakland University and the University of Detroit.

What made Berline grow, she said, was strategic development for customers by concentrating on consumer behavior. Horowitz is such a believer in the strategy that she’s pursuing a doctorate in psychology with a media emphasis.

“It’s based on not only looking at how a company operations internally, but consumer behavior,” she said.

Being personally involved, rather than handing things off to staff, also fueled the growth, she said. (2007)

Carole Hutton

Managing editor, Detroit Free Press. (2002)Editor, San Jose Mercury-News since May. She had been editor and publisher of the Free Press before leaving the paper in 2005 when Gannett Co.Inc. bought the Free Press from Knight Ridder Inc. (2007)

Denise Ilitch

President, Olympia Development Inc., 1997; president, Ilitch HoldingsInc., Detroit. (1997)Left the company in 2004 after her father, Mike Ilitch, named her brother Christopher president and CEO. Now pursues a variety of interests, including being of counsel to Clark Hill; creating a jewelry company, Denise Ilitch Designs; and publishing Ambassador magazine with Dennis Archer Jr. (2007)

Marian Ilitch

Owner, Detroit Entertainment L.L.C.

Co-chairwoman

Ilitch Holdings Inc.

Detroit

Marian Ilitch’s influence in Detroit can be seen, felt and heard among the bright lights and colorful glitz of MotorCity Casino.

Ilitch, co-chairwoman of the $1.6 billion Ilitch Holdings Inc. empire and wife of Detroit Tigers and Detroit Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch, bought the casino in April 2005. She paid Mandalay Resort Group Inc. $525 million, bought an additional 11.5 percent from Atwater Associates L.L.C. for $100 million and 10 percent from Thomas Celani for an undisclosed amount.

The investment has steadily paid off: MotorCity’s August revenue was $41.1 million, up more than 5 percent over last year. On the year, the casino has taken in $324.8 million.

Ilitch, who was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 2001, is spending $275 million on expanded gambling space and a 17-story, 400-room hotel scheduled to open Nov. 1. She and business partner Michael Malik also are pursuing casinos in California and elsewhere in Michigan, including Manistee and Port Huron.

That’s a long way from her days running a small pizzeria in suburban Detroit in 1959. That soon evolved into the successful Little Caesar’s chain. After the pizza joints came the Red Wings in 1982, followed by purchase of Olympia Entertainment Inc., the management company for Joe Louis and Cobo arenas. The Fox Theatre and adjacent office building came next, in 1987, along with a comprehensive renovation. Mike Ilitch added the Tigers in 1992 and Hockeytown Café opened in 1999.

“We didn’t really plan all the businesses we’ve gotten into — some of them just happened to come along at the right time and it just made sense,” she said in an e-mailed statement to Crain’s. “The same is true with MotorCity Casino. I certainly never planned on getting into this business, but when the opportunity came along, it just seems to fit with the entertainment business and I felt very strongly that there needed to be local ownership of one of the casinos in Detroit so those dollars can be reinvested into the community.”

Ilitch’s influence runs deep because of her grasp of the gaming industry as a whole, said Robert Russell, a gaming analyst with East Lansing-based Regulatory Management Counselors P.C.

“Her enterprise is not just gaming. She understands the whole concept, from the food and beverage side to the delivery side to the entertainment side,” he said. “She gets the components of the entertainment experience. Her involvement is a natural progression.”

He noted that she was named last year as one of the Top 25 People to Watch by Global Gaming Business magazine.

“The voice that she brings to the industry is a voice that will carry weight,” he said, adding that MotorCity is the only casino in the country 100 percent owned by a woman. (2007)

Heidi Jacobus

CEO, Cybernet Systems Corp., Ann Arbor. (1997)

Millie Jeffrey

Longtime community and labor activist. First director of the United Auto Workers’ women’s department and of the National Women’s Political Caucus. Accomplishments included receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. (2002)Died March 24, 2004, at the age of 93. (2007)

Kathryn Jehle

Senior vice president and CFO, Comshare Inc. (1997)Was named vice president of finance for Johnson C. Smith University in North Carolina in 2003, but was succeeded by Gerald Hector in 2004. Current status unknown. (2007)

Kim Jones

Vice president and chief controller, Chrysler L.L.C.

Jones’ career has been marked by a steady rise through the ranks of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler after beginning her career as a senior auditor with Deloitte & Touche L.L.P.

She was appointed to her current post at Chrysler L.L.C. in August, after most recently serving as a vice president in charge of product, procurement and cost management finance at DaimlerChrysler Corp.

Jones, 47, also became the first African-American female vice president at Chrysler when she achieved that rank in 2004. (2007)

Pauline Kelly

She was vice president of information-technology management at Chrysler Financial when Chrysler Corp. was bought by Daimler-Benz. She was made chief information officer of the combined financial services unit and given the responsibility of integrating the technology systems of the two companies.

Now, under the Cerberus-owned Chrysler L.L.C., she is responsible for providing software development and computer services to the global service group, which includes dealer support; service contracts; customer assistance centers; and the sales, marketing and distribution of Mopar parts and accessories. (2007)

Maureen Kempston-Darkes

Debbie Kenyon

WVMV-FM 98.7

Farmington Hills

Kenyon, 41, has used to experience in radio sales to bolster the bottom lines of the two CBS Radio stations for which she’s responsible.

She was promoted in August 2005 to vice president and general manager of WYCD-FM 99.5, in addition to her existing job as vice president and general manager of WVMV-FM 98.7. WVMV is a smooth jazz station while WYCD is country.

Currently, they’re tied for eighth on Crain’s list of top Detroit radio stations by revenue, an improvement for both. WVMV and WYCD each posted 2005 revenue of $14.6 million.

Previously, she was director of sales for CBS Radio’s six Detroit stations. In 2000, when Kenyon was general sales manager of WYCD, she increased its sales by more than $1 million by adding staff, including two top people from competing stations. (2007)

Mary Kline-Cueter

President and managing partner, Gordon Advisors, Troy. (2002)

Phyllis Knight

CFO, Champion Enterprises

Knight, 44, took over as CFO in 2002 at a troubled company struggling to get out from under debt and poor performance. That year, the company posted a $256 million loss on $1.37 billion in revenue.

She spotted the problems and set out to get the company on the right track. In her first year, she set after a goal of restructuring and reducing debt, raising funds and refocusing the business.

With the financial side of the house cleaned up, Champion was able to spend time and resources on acquisitions to diversify, such as the acquisition of U.K.-based Calsafe Group Ltd. and its Caledonian Building Systems subsidiary, adding an international component to the company’s modular and manufactured home business.

Champion has continued good performance in a U.S. market that has not been friendly to residential-oriented businesses. For 2006, the company posted $138 million net income on $1.36 billion in revenue.

“International investment has really helped us out,” she said. “Those businesses have helped us get through the bumps in the US housing market.” (2007)

Denise Knobblock-Starr

Executive vice president, Compuware Corp. (1997)

Susan Kornfield

Partner and chair, Bodman L.L.P.

The intellectual-property practice headed by Kornfield, 55, is in one of the fastest-growing areas of law.

Kornfeld is widely published on the topic and is often asked to speak to policy makers on the topic. She’s conducted training sessions for the federal judiciary and has participated in a wide variety of national panels and symposia.

However, she cites her proudest achievement as helping Bodman develop a pro bono policy and program that serves low-income individuals and the organizations that work with them, civil rights organizations and organizations involved in community development. (2007)

Barbara Labadie

Chairwoman, Labadie Capital Management, Detroit. (1997)Died of breast cancer March 1, 2003, at the age of 59. (2007)

Jill Lajdziak

Lajdziak, 50, was part of the startup team in 1986 that created the brand’s lauded dealership network with its “no haggle, no hassle” selling philosophy.

She moved steadily up the ranks at Saturn, becoming the first regional manager for the Chicago-based central region in 1990, executive director of central office operations in 1995; executive director of marketing, product and brand development in 1998; and assumed her current post in 2000.

Her job includes responsibility for brand and product development; marketing, advertising and public relations; and sales strategies. (2007)

Nicole Lamb-Hale

Managing partner, Foley & Lardner L.L.P.

While watching the 20th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington, Nicole Lamb-Hale, then a senior at Southfield High School, decided to pursue a law degree and address issues affecting the rights of African-Americans. She wound up working for the financial health of the region at large.

“Bankruptcy represents the last general practice that involves business transactions and litigation,” said Lamb-Hale, 41, who supervises a staff of 80 people in Foley & Lardner L.L.P.’s Detroit office and manages a $100 million budget. She continues to carve out time for her career specialty. “Through this work you get an appreciation for what businesses need and identify telltale signs of trouble.”

Lamb-Hale co-chairs the Debtor/Credit Section of the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association to keep abreast of bankruptcy issues while she guides the progress of Foley & Lardner’s Business Reorganization and Public Finance Services Practice along with its Automotive Industry Team.

Her clients have included Pilot Industries Inc. of Dexter and Medifacts International, headquartered in Rockville, Md. Her bond work has involved the city of Detroit, Wayne County, the Detroit Public Schools and Wayne County Airport Authority.

Lamb-Hale also leads the firm’s mentoring and career guidance program to help incubate and sustain the job potential of a diversified team of professionals. She is the first African-American female to manage a major law firm in the city of Detroit.

Her parents were her first mentors. They encouraged Lamb-Hale to major in political science at the University of Michigan where she graduated with honors. Another mentor was Dennis Archer, former Detroit mayor and current chairman of Dickinson Wright P.L.L.C. He recruited Lamb-Hale as finance chair and asked her to serve as leader of the Dennis W. Archer Foundation.

“Nicole Lamb-Hale is a very thorough and outstanding lawyer, very well respected. I’m pleased with how she finds time to give back to her community,” said Archer, noting Lamb-Hale helped his scholarship fund raise $2 million to help low-income, high achievers in Detroit and Cassopolis attend Wayne State University in Detroit and Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.

Lamb-Hale also devotes time to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. “I’ve worked on every one of his campaigns. He is a great guy.” (2007)

Carol Larson

Partner, Deloitte & Touche. (1997)Now works for Deloitte from the Pittsburgh office, but plans to return to Detroit within the next six months. (2007)

Brenda Lawrence

Mayor, Southfield

Brenda Lawrence oversees a city government with more than 800 employees and a $118 million budget. It also is noted as the area’s largest office center and one of its most diverse cities.

Lawrence, 52, first won the city’s mayoral election in an upset over a longtime incumbent in November 2001.

She won the Leadership Detroit 2003 “Challenging the Process Award” and the 2004 Distinguished Leadership and Future Leaders Award for Exemplary Leadership from Leadership Oakland.

Her accomplishments as mayor also include heading a business trip to Japan to visit with Tokyo Rope Mfg. Ltd., a company which, with the city and Lawrence Technological University, designed and built the Bridge Street Bridge in Southfield, the first of its kind in the U.S., which uses a special polymer material designed by Tokyo Rope for structural reinforcement instead of traditional steel.

Lawrence also works as manager of training for the U.S. Postal Service, Detroit District. (2007)

Til Levesque

Levesque, 43, was promoted to oversight of Clear Channel Communications Inc.’s seven Detroit radio stations in February 2006.

That culminated a decade of working for the radio giant’s Detroit operation. She came from Clear Channel’s Manhattan offices 10 years ago with the notion that Detroit would be a one-year stop before moving on to Chicago.

Instead, she fell in love with the market here, she said. She has 280 employees working for her at stations that range from sports talk to hip-hop to country.

Since being promoted to her present job, she’s concentrated on continuing revenue growth at each station, which she said is outpacing a difficult local market, and ensuring that the terrestrial offerings are matched online.

Currently, four of her stations rank on Crain’s list of top Detroit radio stations by revenue, with WNIC-FM 100.3 third overall with $19.2 million.

Earlier this year, she oversaw the conversion of WDTW-FM 106.7 from a classic rock format to country in an attempt to boost flagging revenue and listenership.

Previously, she was director of sales for all seven stations. (2007)

Denise Lewis

Partner, Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn. (1997)

Kathleen Lewis

Member, DykemaGossett P.L.L.C. (1997)Died of lung cancer Oct. 16, 2007, at the age of 60. (2007)

Kathleen Ligocki

Karen Livingston-Wilson

Frederica Lombard

Associate dean and professor of law, Wayne State University Law School. (1997)Has emerita status. (2007)

Judy Love

Senior vice president, investor relations, controller and treasury, real estate, purchasing, security and business continuity, Comerica Inc. (2002)In late 2006, transferred to Comerica’s northern California operations as senior vice president of middle-market banking. She had held the same position for outstate Michigan. (2007)

Barbara Mahone

Joan Mahoney

Dean, Wayne State University Law School. (2002)Resigned post in 2003; is a member of the school’s faculty. (2007)

Robyn Marcotte

Senior vice president of talent, ePrize

Marcotte’s job is not only to recruit talent but to make sure the company culture continues to maintain ePrize as one of the fastest-growing companies in the region and a national interactive-marketing powerhouse.

The company plans to double employment by 2009 from its current level of 350.

Outside work, Marcotte, 40, is a Girl Scout leader and a teacher at her church. (2007)

Florine Mark

President and CEO, The WW Group Inc. (1997)

Vickie Markavitch

Superintendent, Oakland Schools Intermediate School District

Vickie Markavitch returned to Michigan in 2004 after two decades of working in Illinois and Indiana. Markavitch’s last stint in Michigan was as an assistant superintendent for Niles Community Schools from 1985-87.

Now beginning her fourth academic year at Oakland Schools, Markavitch, 63, oversees a district with more than 600 employees and a budget of $312.5 million for its general fund, special education and career-focused education programs. More than 9,000 Oakland students are enrolled in various ISD schools and programs.

Changes have been afoot in recent years for the Oakland ISD as well. The district offers consulting services and data analysis tools to 27 of the 28 districts within its county borders, and even a few agencies outside the county have hired the district for its computer services since Markavitch took the post. (2007)

Linda Marshall

Patricia Maryland

Maryland developed an interest in health care administration at a young age.

One of eight children, she watched her mother suffer from Type II diabetes while dealing with the frustrations of repeated hospitalizations and a lack of knowledge about the disease.

“Had we known more about it, we would have gotten her into changing her diet and exercising,” which perhaps could have staved off her death in 2000 from complications related to the disease, Maryland said.

“It always frustrated me, who to go to for all of the conditions that resulted from the increasing severity of the disease,” she said. “We didn’t understand how to use the system appropriately, who to go to.”

Maryland, 54, said she decided early that she wanted to find a way to help others dealing with similar issues.

“Having faced a parent who was ill most of her life, the frustration with the health care system really piqued my interest in perhaps helping other people navigate a very complex system and to help create from the leadership perspective a continuum of care for diseases,” Maryland said.

Maryland, who first worked as a biostatistician, was able to parlay her quantitative mathematics skills to the complexity of managing a health care system.

She got into health care as a strategic planner at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh in 1979. After nearly three years there, she went on to a nearly 15-year career at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation where she held a number of positions in strategic planning and operations.

Maryland joined North Oakland Medical Centers in Pontiac as executive vice president and COO in 1996, a position she held until early 2001 when she became COO at DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital.

Three months after joining the Detroit hospital, Maryland became president. During her two-and-a-half-year tenure, Maryland turned the money-losing hospital around, posting a positive net operating margin.

She left Sinai-Grace in 2003 to become president of St. Vincent Hospitals and Health Services in Indianapolis, one of the flagship hospitals in the Ascension Health system. In fall 2005, she took on additional responsibilities as executive vice president and COO of St. Vincent Health.

Last month, she returned to Detroit to oversee strategies and operations of Ascension’s five health systems in the state, which include Detroit-based St. John Health and account for more than 25 percent or $3.1 billion of Ascension’s total revenue.

She plans to share best practices and to look at things such as pooled purchasing and shared management.

Maryland is the immediate past chairwoman of the Citizens Health Care Working Group, a national commission created by Congress to talk with the public about their health care concerns and ideas for health care reform. She served as chair for six months, after serving as a member of the working group before that. During her two years as a member of the group, it collected input from 40,000 people in 32 states through town hall-style meetings and a Web site.

She recently was appointed by David Walker, comptroller general of the U.S. General Accounting Office, to a panel that will look at strategies to reduce the number of uninsured and ways to improve access to health care. (2007)

Kathleen McCann

Senior vice president, Soave Enterprises L.L.C., Detroit. (2002)

Kathleen McCarroll

Chief of radiology and president of medical staff, Detroit Receiving Hospital. (1997)Chief of emergency radiology at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. (2007)

Nina McClelland

President, Nina McClelland L.L.C. Consulting Services, Ann Arbor, and former chairman and CEO, NSF International in Ann Arbor. (1997)Remains president of consulting service and director, American National Standards Institute, Washington, D.C. Received the 2006 Outstanding Alumna for the Natural Sciences Division of the University of Toledo, and the 2005 George S. Wham Leadership Medal from the American National Standards Institute. (2007)

LeAnne McCorry

During her 16-year career at Aon, McCorry, 42, has held a number of management and executive positions before assuming her current position in 2002.

McCorry cut her teeth at Aon in her 20s, selling what were then considered obscure products such as executive-liability insurance, officers’-liability insurance, employment-practice insurance and fiduciary-liability insurance. Under her leadership, the company has become one of the industry’s largest employers and revenue producers in Southeast Michigan. (2007)

Colleen McDonald

President, Holiday Automotive Group

Colleen McDonald went through the ranks of her father’s Chevrolet dealership before becoming president in 1995.

Today, McDonald calls the shots at three metro Detroit dealerships, including HolidayChevrolet in Farmington Hills, Livonia Chrysler Jeep Inc. in Livonia and Century Dodge Inc. in Taylor.

Last year, HolidayAutomotive Group grossed $160.2 million in sales, up from $153.7 million in 2005, and had 183 employees. It was No. 96 on Crain’s list of the 200 largest private companies and the ninth-largest auto dealer according to Crain’s 2007 list.

McDonald, 42, was the first woman president of the Metro Detroit Chevrolet Dealers Association in 2001. (2007)

Sheila McKinnon

Senior vice president, Compuware Corp. (1997)Left Compuware in 1998 and subsequently filed a lawsuit against the company that ended in an undisclosed settlement in 1999. (2007)

Elaine McMahon

Senior vice president, small business lending, Comerica Inc. (1997)Recently appointed to the Michigan market management team, while she continues in her small business lending position. (2007)

Terry Merritt

Vice president, human resources, Walbridge Aldinger Co. (2002)

Deborah Meyer

Vice president and chief marketing officer, Chrysler L.L.C.

Meyer, 44, joined Chrysler L.L.C. in August from Toyota, and is being given the task of focusing the automaker’s marketing effort for Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep, as well as sales promotions, brand events and strategic direction.

Meyer is viewed as tough, creative and a change agent, all things many in the ad community said Chrysler needs.

Meyer joined Chrysler after six years with Toyota Motor Sales, most recently, as vice president of marketing for Lexus. Before that, she was with Ford Motor Co., where she held positions with the Mazda and Lincoln-Mercury brands. Before joining Ford, Meyer was a product manager for three years at W.L. Gore andAssociates in Paris. She began her career at ChaseManhattanBank. (2007)

Jill Miller

Executive director, Society of Automotive Engineers, Detroit Section

As executive director of an organization with 18,000 members, Jill Miller has her hands full.

Miller, 49, leads the Society of Automotive Engineers, Detroit Section. It’s the organization’s largest single chapter.

In addition to staging monthly vehicle-launch meetings for manufacturers, college scholarship programs and young engineer mentoring initiatives — like SAE’s First Robotics Competition — the native Detroiter also plays a key role in serving SAE International’s 90,000 global members.

Miller’s biggest responsibility is planning SAE’s Global Leadership Conference, an annual four-day gathering at The Greenbrier in West Virgina, attended by 400 top auto executives and suppliers from around the world.

The event was struggling for attendance when she took it over. Today, it’s a sell-out. (2007)

Patricia Mooradian

President, The Henry Ford

Mooradian, 47, was an integral part of the process that led to the rebranding of Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village as TheHenryFord, America’s Greatest History Attraction.

The effort was part of a larger overall change that included a new master plan for Henry Ford Museum, the design and implementation of the Ford Rouge Factory tour and the physical overhaul of Greenfield Village.

The rebranding was controversial locally, but well-received elsewhere, providing a useful umbrella for what The Chicago Tribune described as “a cluster of knockout attractions.”

Mooradian joined The Henry Ford in 2000 as COO from The Taubman Co., where she was director of regional marketing. She assumed her current post in 2005. (2007)

Joan Moore

President and owner, Arbor Consulting Group Inc., Northville. (2002)

Sue Mosey

President, University Cultural Center Association

Mosey, a native Detroiter, has put her undergraduate and graduate urban planning degrees into practical use on and around the Wayne State University campus where she earned them.

Mosey, 53, while an undergraduate at WSU, was an organizer for the Michigan Avenue Community Organization, then worked another four years with MACO as commercial development specialist.

After earning a master’s degree in urban planning in 1983, Mosey was downtown development authority director and main street manager for the city of Ypsilanti from 1984 to 1988. She then returned to Detroit’s center city, joining the University Cultural Center Association which she has headed for 15 years.

Founded in 1976, the association has aided in planning and development of nearly $400 million in new residential projects including 2,800 units planned or completed.

Under Mosey’s direction the association has spearheaded installation of a way-finding sign system for the district, streetscape enhancements, park and median improvements, and the production of the area’s two signature events — the Detroit Festival of the ArtsandNoel Night.

Coming next is a two-mile greenway connecting Midtown to the Dequindre Cut trailway for pedestrians, joggers and cyclists.

A recent award-winning project was the Inn on Ferry Street, a 42-room boutique hostelry near the Detroit Institute of Arts. This historic renovation of four 1880’s mansions cost about $8.5 million and has won many local, regional, and national preservation awards

Mosey also helped found the Woodward Corridor Development Fund, which has helped finance about 30 Midtown housing projects plusredevelopment of the Garfield Building and other businesses. (2007)

Shirley Moulton

Carmen Munoz

Leslie Murphy

Managing partner, client services, Plante & Moran L.L.P. (2007)

Faye Nelson

CEO, Detroit Riverfront Conservancy

Nelson is the founding CEO of the nonprofit created to transform Detroit’s riverfront. The east riverfront phase will leverage foundation and private dollars for a RiverWalk into private investment in housing, retail and a new port authority terminal.

When completed, investment in riverfront redevelopment is expected to top $1 billion. The effort will stretch from the Gabriel Richard Park at the MacArthur Bridge at Belle Isle to the Ambassador Bridge west of downtown Detroit.

An attorney, Nelson, 54, had stints at Wayne State University and Kmart Corp. before joining the conservancy. (2007)

Parker implemented the same approach at HAP, and today, the company has one of the lowest administrative rates among insurance providers, she said. The system allocates only 7.5 percent of its total revenue to administration and reserves. The remainder goes toward medical care and expenses.

“What I want to do was bring the type of approach to (the budget process), transparency and collaboration that we’ve had at HAP to EMU,” Parker said, while ensuring the students EMU graduates meet employers’ needs.

Parker said she views the university’s budgeting process as more top-down than bottom-up. She’s urging the board to not only look at that but also to begin looking at next year’s budget now so that EMU can provide more transparency and solicit more faculty involvement and dialogue.

At HAP, Parker has fostered collaboration among physicians, hospitals, employers and its customers.

“If I was to contrast that to EMU — and it’s no secret they’ve had some unrest within the campus … what I’d like to do as well is make sure we have that same level of collaboration and dialogue that I’ve been able to achieve among the different HAP constituents.”

EMU’s board of regents in July fired president John Fallon and asked its public safety director and a vice president to resign after an investigation into the December death of an undergraduate student.

But, EMU had one of the lower tuition increases for this academic year, Parker said. “I want to continue along that path to make sure the value of the dollars spent by the students and citizens are appropriate and that we are good stewards of their finances.”

“It boils down to making tough choices, but making them in a compassionate way with appropriate dialogue and the facts and collaboration,” Parker said.

Parker also was named one of Crain’s Most Influential Women in 1997 and 2002. (2007)

Anne Parsons

President and Executive Director, Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Music was always the thing Anne Parsons did for fun. Even when she played flute in and managed the Smith College orchestra, the music was its own reward.

No, Parsons’ professional future was in finance; she was sure of it. She used to spend her college summers working as a teller for Chemical Bank in New York. She loved working with people, loved the simplicity of the job, and took a special satisfaction in balancing her drawer at the end of the day.

But during her senior year at Smith College, a recruiter from the American Symphony Orchestra League raised another option. The ASOL was starting an orchestra management fellowship program, and it happened to be looking for candidates who had an interest in business, a way with people, knowledge of symphonies and a love of music.

“It had never in million years occurred of me that music could be a career path,” said Parsons, 49, president and executive director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra since 2004. “I convinced my parents — and this is really what I thought would happen — that I would go off on this program for a year and then go right back to pursuing my path of going out and working on Wall Street.”

Parsons went through the management fellowship and never looked back. She managed the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl and the New York City Ballet before coming to Detroit in 2004.

“If you think about being in the symphony business you’ve got all these people to deal with,” said Jim Nicholson, chairman of the DSO board of directors and CEO of PVS Chemicals in Detroit. “You’ve got musicians who are by their nature individuals and highly skilled at their craft. You’ve got a board of directors which houses very few small egos, and then you’ve got your own staff, the general public, donors. It takes a really superb talent to work your way through all of those audiences and be effective.

“I’ve hired a lot of people, and very seldom do you think, looking back, ‘That’s the greatest thing I ever did.’ She continually impresses me as being better than I thought she was — but I thought she was great or I never would have hired her.”

Nicholson calls Parsons the driving force behind many of the positive things happening at the DSO. Her sense of responsibility to the community — and that drive to have the drawer balance at the end of the day — spurred long-term planning designed to put the orchestra on solid financial footing despite shrinking state and private funding.

She recently negotiated a new three-year contract with the orchestra’s musicians. On her watch, the venues of the Max M. Fisher Music Center have gone far beyond their musical mission, hosting everything from awards programs to product launches. And last summer the DSO introduced a new music festival, Eight Days In June, which challenged preconceptions about classical music and brought 6,000 people through the doors — many for the first time.

“She’s very highly respected in the industry,” Nicholson said. “We’re blessed to have her and we’re going to fight to keep her. She’s a star.” (2007)

Cynthia Pasky

President and CEO, Strategic Staffing Solutions (2007)

Lisa Payne

CFO, Taubman Centers Inc.

Though Lisa Payne has spent most of her career in real estate and finance, her work as CFO with Taubman Centers Inc. has brought a new element to her professional life.

“A regional mall is not a commodity,” she said. “It’s a living, breathing asset with tenants changing all the time. You market it, try to get customers to come, ask how much business is done in the asset.

“We are the umbilical cord for these retailers to do business.”

As a result, she has been forced to learn about the operational side of the business.

On the financial end, she’s well-prepared.

Payne, 48, spent 10 years as vice president of the investment banking division for New York-based Goldman Sachs before joining Taubman. She focused on acquisition and development financing, merger and acquisition advisories, as well as public and private debt and equity offerings.

Before joining Goldman Sachs she was a vice president in Chemical Bank’s real estate department.

Since working at Taubman, she’s taken the lead in a strategic planning effort at the company, looking at ways to improve performance of the of the core assets.

It’s become a job broader than a typical CFO, she said.

“Making sure we have the money to build our assets is 75 percent of my job,” she said. “But a lot of the time is working with (COO) Bill Taubman on driving the performance of the assets, so I have a little more of a strategic role.”

Chairman, president and CEO Robert Taubman affirmed Payne has taken on the role of being a partner in the business.

“There are two kinds of financial officers,” he said. “One that focuses on finance, treasury functions, taxes and the like. The other is involved in the operations of the business and tries, thoroughly, to use the position to add value to the organization.

“She has been the latter, and thoroughly understands the operations and has added value. We’re lucky to have her.”

And while Payne considers her professional work crucial, she refuses to let that cut into the time it takes to be a Mom for her two daughters.

If someone asks, “What do you do?” her first answer isn’t that she’s CFO of a top real estate investment trust.

“I try to be a role model as it relates to other women,” she said. “I use the word ‘balance.’ It’s very important for me to be a balanced person. That includes my family, my children and my personal interests.”

“When people ask what I do, I say, ‘I’m a mother,’ ” she said. “That’s what’s important to me.” (2007)

Judith Pelham

President and CEO, Trinity Health, Novi. (1997)Retired in January 2005. (2007)

Mary Petrovich

Chairwoman and CEO, AxleTech International

Mary Petrovich’s tough childhood and her participation in competitive sports instilled in her a spirit that has propelled her to leadership positions within the male-dominated automotive and manufacturing industry.

Petrovich, 44, grew up in Ferndale and in the Village of Franklin.

“My mom was widowed at age 30 with eight kids and no life insurance and we grew up in poverty in a very small house,” Petrovich said. “I learned at a young age that you had to fight for what you got in life.”

Petrovich played basketball and softball in high school and was captain of the varsity softball team at the University of Michigan.

“I refuse to lose. I move at a very quick pace and I believe in leading by example,” she said.

Early in her career, Petrovich decided to seek out challenging positions, a decision that led her to gain business experience with some of the most legendary business leaders of the 1990s.

After getting her MBA in 1989, Petrovich applied for a job in Chrysler’s finance department. At the time, Chrysler was near bankruptcy, but Lee Iacocca was chairman and Jerry York was leading the finance team.

Petrovich figured she would have more opportunities at Chrysler than at a company that was thriving.

“And that turned out to be the case,” she said. After Chrysler Petrovich joined AlliedSignal Automotive, a division of AlliedSignal Inc., a diversified manufacturer. AlliedSignal was headed by Larry Bossidy, a former General Electric Co. executive who led AlliedSignal through 31 consecutive quarters of earnings-per-share growth of 13 percent or more.

At AxleTech, Petrovich applied many of the skills learned earlier in her career to fix an ailing company.

The division had about $140 million in annual sales but was burdened with a labor contract that was hurting the company and a purchasing program that was in disarray.

“Eighty percent of the material costs were not competitive,” she said.

She knew an ownership change would enable the company to scrap the union contract and figured purchasing could be improved. By 2005, the business had improved so much that Wynnchurch was able to sell the company to Washington-based Carlyle Group for a profit.

This year, AxleTech’s sales are expected to exceed $400 million and the company has already booked enough business for next year that 2008 revenue should exceed $500 million. And, by 2010, Petrovich said AxleTech should reach $1 billion in annual sales.

“I know I don’t know all the answers,” Petrovich said. “But I have a no-excuses management style. At the end of the day, winners get it done.” (2007)

E. Pollock

Waltraud Prechter

President and founder, Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Fund

For years, Prechter was business adviser, confidante and helpmate to her husband, Heinz Prechter, founder of sunroof pioneer ASC Inc.

His suicide on July 6, 2001, after a years-long battle with depression threw her into the role of advocate. Prechter chose to channel her family’s pain into action, establishing the research fund in 2001. The organization is housed at the University of Michigan and helps pay for research to find cures for bipolar disorder.

Prechter, 53, was instrumental in establishing the Depression Center at the University of Michigan, the first of its kind in the nation.

In addition, she testified before Congress to increase federal funding for bipolar disorder research and was appointed by President Bush to the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health to help improve the mental health care system in the United States.

In October 2002, the Prechter Fund raised more than $1.25 million at its first gala dinner, the largest single fund-raising event for bipolar disorder in U.S. history. (2007)

Jodee Raines

Raines oversees grants from a $60 million endowment created by the sale of Sinai Hospital in 1997 under the umbrella of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.

The fund gives grants primarily to address health and welfare needs of the Jewish community and priority capital and equipment needs of The Detroit Medical Center.

One particular accomplishment of which Raines, 43, is proud: A free, HMO-like organization managed by Jewish Family Service that has provided 530 uninsured Jewish adults with more than $1.2 million in free medical care through a network of 500 health care providers and 10 health care systems. (2007)

Nanci Rands

Associate broker, SKBK Sotheby’s International Realty

With 30 years in the real estate business, Rands, 63, has become a go-to person for those looking to sell multimillion-dollar homes. Her current listings include 16 homes with asking prices of more than $1 million, topping out at $3.6 million.

She has grown a social and business network to climb into the upper echelon of home sales. Crucial alignments with successful people in the business community and their referrals have put her in the position of selling the top-priced homes.

The industry took notice of her work, as she was named Realtor of the Year for 2007 by the Metropolitan Association of Realtors.

Rands was the first woman elected to the board of directors for the Franklin Hills Country Club. She was on the board for six years, spending three years as an officer. She has been off the board for the last three years.

Rands has also merged her family and business lives, working with her daughter as a partner. Meredith Rands Colburn has been with the company since 1999. (2007)

Deborah Ravetta

Anne Regling

Executive for the northwest region, The Detroit Medical Center. (1997)Vice president and controller, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. (2007)

Terry Reiley

President, Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan. (2002)In same position. Has developed and opened an additional 22 outpatient physical therapy/sports medicine sites between 2000 and 2007. Growth resulted in a net outpatient revenue increase from $14.2 million in 2000 to a projected $30.2 million in 2007. (2007)

Martha Richardson

President, Services Marketing Specialists Inc., Detroit. (2002)Sold her company this year. Plans to continue consulting while living and traveling on her boat with her husband. (2007)

Catherine Roberts

President and CEO, Research Federal Credit Union, Warren. (1997)Led Research Federal through a merger with Community Choice Credit Union that closed Aug. 21. Is now president and CEO of the combined organization, which as more than $445 million in assets serving more than 60,000 members in several counties. One of four United States delegates representing credit unions on the board of the World Council of Credit Unions. Also serves as vice chairman of the World Leadership DevelopmentCommittee for the Credit Union National Association. (2007)

Pamela Rodgers

President, Rodgers Chevrolet

Since Pamela Rodgers took ownership of Rodgers Chevrolet in 1996, she has grown the dealership of metro Detroit’s largest private companies and has been widely active in local civic and community organizations.

Rodgers Chevrolet reported $62 million in revenue for 2006, up from $37 when she first took over the dealership. The dealership was ranked No. 176 on Crain’s Private 200 list this year.

Before taking the helm at Rodgers Chevrolet under a dealer consolidation plan by General Motors Corp., Rodgers owned a Ford dealership in Flint and a General Motors dealership in Flat Rock.

Rodgers, 49, received a Professional Achievement award from the Women’s Automotive Association in 2006 and was recognized in 2000 by Alternatives for Girls as a role model for young women. (2007)

Barbara Rom

Managing partner, Pepper Hamilton L.L.P. (2007)

Mary Roth

Chairwoman, Department of Family Practice, Providence Hospital. (1997)Has a geriatric and family practice in Allentown, Pa. (2007)

Mara Saad

Executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, Letica Corp.

Letica Saad, 52, has long been active in Republican causes nationally and was well-regarded enough by the first Bush administration to be appointed, but not confirmed, the ambassador to Croatia in 1992 based on work she and her father, Ilija, did organizing a lawyers’ group throughout the United States to supervise elections in Croatia in 1990.

Letica Saad was part of the steering committee of the “W Stands for Women” leadership team and Small Business team in the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign.

She is part of the Michigan finance committee for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign.

The family company makes paper and plastic containers for a wide variety of applications that include paint, chemicals and food.

Her husband, Henry Saad, is a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals. (2007)

Toni Sabina

Barb Samardzich

Samardzich, 49, has worked on designing the Ford F-650 and 750 trucks as well as the redesigned 2005 Mustang.

But powertrains is where she’s made her name at the company, both as an engineer and, since 2005, as the vice president of powertrain product development.

As chief engineer for automatic transmissions 2000-2002, Samardzich was charged with improving both quality and customer satisfaction. “We had a horrible reputation — no durability, nor fuel economy,” she told Design News in 2005.

Between the 2001 and 2002 model years, transmissions demonstrably improved in quality, and the process she used to achieve that was able to be deployed in other areas of the company.

Samardzich joined Ford in 1990 from Westinghouse Electric’s Nuclear Fuels Division, where she worked as an engineer. (2007)

Lynne Schaefer

Vice president, administrative services, Wayne State University, 1997; vice president of finance and administration, treasurer, Oakland University, 2002. (1997)Left OU in 2004 and joined the University of Maryland, Baltimore County as vice president for administration and finance in 2005. (2007)

Karla Scherer

Kari Schlachtenhaufen

President and CEO, The Skillman Foundation. (2002)Left Skillman in 2004. Is now serving as interim president and CEO of the Northwest Area Foundation in St. Paul, Minn., which supports programs within communities served by Great NorthernRailway in eight states. (2007)

Suzanne Shank

Suzanne Shank is leading the municipal finance firm she helped found in October 1996, after opening a Detroit office for its predecessor firm in 1995.

By the end of 2006, the firm had served as a managing underwriter for public financings exceeding $450 billion, with 12 offices and 54 employees across the country.

Prior to her public finance career, Shank, a Georgia native, was a design engineer with General Dynamics Electric Boat Division for two years before returning to college to complete her master’s degree.

“I’d planned to return to business school, and rise through the management ranks at General Dynamics.” Shank recalls, “but when I learned about investment banking and consulting on public finance on roads, water and sewer projects, my engineering training seemed very applicable.”

Shank has handled large scale bond projects for such cities as New York, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Baltimore; and for Wayne County; Michigan; Prince Georges County, Md.; Cook County, Ill.; and the states of Ohio and Connecticut. Included were transactions for redevelopment projects, water and sewer improvements, convention centers, and bonding for building sports arenas, jails and schools. (2007)

Joanne Shaw

LaVonne Sheffield

Chief of staff, Detroit Public Schools. (2002)Became chief accountability officer for Philadelphia Public Schools in 2004. When Philadelphia Superintendent Paul Vallas took a similar job in New Orleans in May, Sheffield was one of several district officials to go with him. (2007)

Lou Anna Simon

President, Michigan State University

Lou Anna Simon rose from positions as a faculty member and assistant director of the Office of Institutional Research at Michigan State University in 1974 to the 20th president of the East Lansing-based university in 2005.

Simon led MSU as it worked late in 2005 with several organizations to launch a SmartZone to increase the university’s technology transfer and the number of startup businesses in mid-Michigan. Under her direction, MSU recently closed out a $1.2 billion fundraising campaign.

Her commitment to MSU’s land-grant tradition of applying knowledge and resources to benefit society locally and around the globe is reflected in her involvement in a number of organizations beyond the university, including the Council on Competitiveness of the National Association of State University and Land-Grant Colleges and the American Council on Education Commission on International Initiative. (2007)

Susan Skerker

Margaret Smith

Chair, Kresge Foundation. (1997)Stepped down in 1998. Used a retirement gift, personal funds and other gifts to establish the Margaret Taylor Smith chair in Women's Studies at DukeUniversity. (2007)

Rebecca Smith

President, Huntington National Bank, Eastern Michigan region

Smith began her career at NBD Bancorp in 1977. She was named president of the eastern region of Grand Rapids-based Old Kent Bank in 2001, then named executive vice president and senior lender of commercial banking when Cincinnati-based Fifth Third bought Old Kent in 2001.

Last December, Smith was named to replace Bruce Nyberg as president of Huntington Bank’s eastern Michigan region.

At Smith’s urging, in July Huntington announced that it had become the first investor in Detroit Renaissance Inc.’s $100 million venture-capital fund of funds to invest in emerging local companies. The bank will invest up to $7.5 million in the fund, the first $5 million contingent on the fund raising $50 million, the remainder when the fund hits $75 million.

“Huntington is investing in Southeast Michigan,” said Smith, 52. “We will be opening new banking offices in Novi and Northville in the rest of 2007 and investing over $3 million to renovate our Troy headquarters. … We’re positioning our team for growth despite a challenging market and economic environment.” (2007)

Janet Sparks

President and CEO, Entech Personnel Services Inc., Troy. (1997)

Shirley Stancato

President and CEO, New Detroit Inc. (2002)

Anne Stevens

Vice president, vehicle operations, North America, Ford Motor Co. (2002)Rose to COO for the Americas at Ford before retiring in 2006 and taking a job as CEO, Carpenter Technology Corp., a maker of specialty metals in Wyomissing, Pa. (2007)

Peg Talburtt

Iris Taylor

President, DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital (2007)

Maria Thompson

President and CEO, T/J Technologies Inc.

Thompson and her husband, Levi, who is an associate dean for undergraduate education and the Richard E. Balzhiser professor of chemical engineering at the University of Michigan, co-founded T/J Industries in 1991.

The company makes nanoscale materials and components for green energy-storage devices, with consumer, defense and aerospace applications.

Last year, the company was sold to Boston-based A123 Systems Inc., but retains its headquarters in Ann Arbor.

“We’d been doing research and development for years,” said Thompson, 45. “The next step was manufacturing, and the best way to do that was a partnership, rather than doing it ourselves. It’s funny: We used to argue over who had the best technologies. When we merged, that ended that argument. We knew between the two of us that we had the best solution.”

T/J began in a small rented lab space. Since then, it has won more than $60 million in federal contracts, including a $2 million grant from the U.S.National Institutes of Standards and Technology’s Advanced Technology Program in 2000, which jump-started the company’s growth. The company employs 27 and is looking to hire two or three more. (2007)

Gail Torreano

Jeanne Towar

Vice president/editorial, HomeTown Communications Network. (2002)Retired, but continues to be active in various community and civic activities, including Leadership Oakland. (2007)

Diana Tremblay

Vice president, labor relations, General Motors Corp.

Tremblay has been the go-to person this fall as the lead negotiator for General Motors Corp. in contract talks with the United Auto Workers, and was at the table in the early hours of Sept. 26 when an agreement was forged to end a two-day strike.

The agreement paves the way for GM to turn over retiree health care benefits to the United Auto Workers under a voluntary employees’ benefit association, or VEBA, that UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said would cover retiree health benefits for the next 80 years.

GM CEO Rick Wagoner said in a statement the VEBA, and other provisions of the new contract, would allow GM to become more competitive while still investing in its U.S. operations.

Tremblay, 48, has been with GM since 1977. (2007)

Darlene Trudell

Executive Vice President, The Engineering Society of Detroit

When Trudell took over as executive vice president of The Engineering Society of Detroit in 2003, membership was in steep decline and the organization lacked focus.

Trudell, 54, developed a strategic plan, retooled staffing, created a new committee structure and surveyed members to find out how to serve them more efficiently.

She launched a new e-newsletter, Web site and marketing materials and developed a tracking system for membership invoices.

Her turnaround efforts paid off.

Trudell has grown ESD membership from 2,077 in 2003 to 5,000 today. She achieved a budget surplus in her second year on the job after 10 consecutive years of losses. She also doubled the nonprofit’s net assets from $1.6 million in June 2003, to $3.2 million in June 2007.

Before joining ESD, Trudell notched another successful turnaround as executive director of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Metropolitan Detroit in Farmington Hills by quadrupling that association’s operating budget to $750,000 and increasing its membership to 340. (2007)

Gretchen Valade

Detroit doesn’t need another black eye,” was Gretchen Valade’s reaction in 2005 when she heard the Detroit International Jazz Festival was in danger of folding.

Valade, 82, came to the rescue with an infusion of $250,000, making her Harper Woods-based jazz record label, Mack Avenue Records, the equivalent of a title sponsor.

The following year she assumed stewardship, setting up a $10 million endowment and creating a separate production company to take over the Detroit Music Hall’s role in staging the event.

The jazz-loving heir to the Carhartt clothing fortune saw value in preserving Detroit’s Labor Day weekend tradition and one of the largest free jazz festivals in North America.

“It’s good for Detroit and jazz. It brings all kinds of people together and helps to show Detroit at its best,” she said.

Encouraged by her mother, who had been a concert pianist, Valade took piano lessons from an early age. Her taste in music, though, gravitated toward jazz, the preference of her older sisters. For their generation, it was “the kind of music parents didn’t want their children to hear,” she recalled.

An interest in song-writing and composing led to the formation of Mack Avenue Records in the late 1990s. The company has produced 35 CD releases, a few of which include her songs.

Valade’s work ethic comes from her grandfather, Hamilton Carhartt, who founded Carhartt Inc., the Dearborn-based work clothing company, in 1889. She likes to tell about how he started as a peddler with a covered wagon and mule. “He was fascinated by railroad workers and sold engineers coveralls and caps that my grandmother made on a sewing machine in the shed.”

In recent years, Carhartt brand jeans, jackets and sportswear have become popular among fashion- conscious teens and adults. The main customers, though, are still construction workers, said Valade.

As chairman and majority stockholder of Carhartt, Valade upholds two main guiding principles: Keep the company as American-centric as possible and keep the quality up.

While competitors like San Francisco-based Levi Strauss have no American manufacturing facilities, Valade takes pride that nine of Carhartt’s 15 plants and distribution centers are in the U.S. The others are in Mexico and Poland.

“We could be a lot bigger, but we would have to compromise our standards and that’s not something we’re willing to do,” said Valade, who is adamant about retaining family ownership. Her son, Mark Valade, is president and CEO of the $454 million company.

When it comes to supporting the arts, Tom Robinson, president of Mack Avenue Festival Productions and the Detroit International Jazz Festival Foundation, as well as Valade’s record label, insists that her contribution is more than signing checks.

“Her goal, and the vision she presents us with, is to make the festival more significant culturally, hopefully making it more attractive for sponsorship support,” he said. “This will enable the festival to go on.”

For Valade, another music-related enterprise is on the horizon. She plans to open a 65-seat restaurant, the Dirty Dog Jazz Café, at 97 Kercheval in Grosse Pointe Farms in December. (2007)

Jan Valentic

Vice president of global marketing, Ford Motor Co. (2002)In March 2007 was named senior vice president of marketing for Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. in Marysville, Ohio. Valentic left Ford in 2004 for ad agency Young & Rubicam. (2007)

Amanda Van Dusen

Principal, Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone plc. (2002)

Deborah VandenBroek

President and CEO, St. Joseph Mercy-Oakland, Pontiac. (2002)Director at Navigant Consulting, Chicago, specializing in leading hospital turnarounds and interim management engagements. (2007)

Edie Waddell

Vice president/general manager, Michigan region, McDonald's Corp., Detroit. (2002)Rose to vice president of U.S. operations before leaving the company after 34 years in May 2006. Now president Waddell, Williams & Delano Development Group in Celebration, Fla., which develops master-planned communities. (2007)

Norma Wallis

CEO and chairman, LivernoisEngineering Co., Dearborn. (1997)Sold off most of the company in 1999, retaining a small division that became Ronaele Cars and Livernois Motorsports in Dearborn Heights, which builds and installs engines, cylinder heads, turbochargers and other products in high-performance cars. (2007)

Carol Walters

President, Walters & Associates Inc., Milford. (1997)

Billie Wanink

President, Interior Systems Contract Group Inc., Royal Oak. (1997)Wanink and Interior Systems partner Louise Tucker sold the company in 2003. (2007)

Jane Warner

President, Randall Textron Division, 1997; president, Manufacturing Global Industry Group, EDS Corp., 2002. (1997)Executive vice president of the global finishing and software businesses, Illinois Tool Works Inc., Glenview, Ill., since early 2006. Warner left EDS in 2004 and became president of Plexus Systems, Auburn Hills. She left Plexus for Illinois Tool Works. (2007)

Linda Watters

Commissioner, Office of Financial and Insurance Services (2007)

Eileen Weiser

Executive director, McKinley Foundation, Ann Arbor, established in 1985 by Weiser and her husband, Ronald Weiser, founder of McKinley Associates. (1997)Left the foundation as an employee when her husband was appointed ambassador to the Slovak Republic in 2001, a position he held until 2004. (2007)

Karen Wiltsie

Mary Zuckerman

Executive vice president and chief of business operations, Detroit Medical Center

Zuckerman is the go-to person for all aspects of operations for the DMC’s eight hospital affiliates. She also is responsible for corporate duties like construction, managing the chief nursing office and certificate of need functions.

Prior to joining the DMC in 2004, she was a deputy Wayne County executive. She managed the day-to-day activities of the executive branch departments and the county budget. Zuckerman, 44, also oversaw the county’s role in projects like Comerica Park, Ford Field and the McNamara Terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. (2007)